In conventional examples, each of semiconductor wafers such as silicon wafers is manufactured by slicing a silicon ingot to fabricate wafers and then performing respective processes, e.g., chamfering, lapping, etching, polishing, cleaning, and the like. Further, to eliminate defects on a wafer surface where a device is formed, for example, a technology to grow an epitaxial layer on a surface of each wafer by a vapor phase epitaxial growth method is used (see Patent Literature 1).
However, in case of growing an epitaxial layer on a silicon wafer, in a relationship between the silicon wafer and the epitaxial layer, when their dopant concentrations are different from each other, lattice constants of atoms constituting these members are not the same. Thus, it is known that the silicon wafer having an epitaxially grown surface is apt to warp.
As a countermeasure, in at least one of grinding and polishing, a method to perform processing so that a bowl-like dent is formed at a central portion of the silicon wafer and to thereby warp the wafer is used (see Patent Literature 2). Since adopting such a method enables canceling out stress caused due to a dopant concentration difference between the silicon wafer and the epitaxial layer by using the warp produced in the grinding or the like, and hence generation of a large warp of an epitaxial wafer can be suppressed.